Improvement in cutting apparatus for harvesters



UNITED STATES WILLIAM G. KENYON, OF WVAKEFIELD, RHODE ISLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN CUTTING APPARATUS FOR HARVESTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 117,178, dated July 18, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WVILLIAM G. KENYON, of

' Wakefield, in the county of WVashington and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cutting Apparatus for Mowing-Machines and Harvesters; and do hereby declare the following to be a full and correct description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing making part of this specification, and to the letters and numbers of reference marked thereon, similar letters and numbers being used in all the figures to denote the same part.

In the drawing, Figure 1 shows two guard fingers with the caps and the cutter bar removed. Fig. 2 shows a section of the springbutton.

The nature of my invention consists in applying and arranging the ledgei'blades and springs by placing the latter in an inclosed recess made in the guardfinger, between its front end and the ledger-blade; also, in applying an improved spring-button to hold the knife or cutter-bar down.

That others may be enabled to make and use my improvements, I will proceed to describe them.

a a are guard-fingers with movable ledgerblades 6 e, which have their front ends length ened out beyond their bearings, and formed into wings, shown in one finger as projecting outward and in the other finger as projecting inward. Recesses are made in the lower part of the guardfinger, in that part covered by the cap, to receive these wings of the ledger-blades; and a spring, 8, is put in the bottom of the recess, under the Wings of the blades, (in case they project outward,) to press'up the edges of the ledger-blades against the knives on the cutter-bar. But if the wings of the ledger-blades are turned inward, as shown in the other finger, then the springs s s are put in the cap over the wings of the blades,

so that by pressing down on the wings it will turn up the cutting-edges of the ledger-blades against the sliding knives. These recesses being covered by the cap, all grass and dirt are kept out from clogging up the springs, &c. A is a springbutton, shown in section by Fig. 2. n is a small slip, fastened to the finger-bar B. The cap A is made large enough to be recessed out in the back part so as to receive the slip a; and a pin, 00, is put through both, so that the cap A shall be allowed to move a little. A spring, g, is put in the recess between them to throw the forward end of the cap down upon the blades on the cutter-bar.

This arrangement of the parts of the button prevents the dirt from collecting and interfering with the action of the spring. This button will allow the blade on the cutter-bar to rise a little when it cuts onto the front end of the ledgerblade e, the forward end of which is made higher than the back one, the spring-button holding the two blades together at the point where they are cutting so as to make a shear cut the whole length of the cut.

I do not claim, broadly, the application of a spring to a ledger-blade, or the use of a spring to hold the cutter-blade down, as they have been used before; but

Having thus described my improvements, what I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of the finger a, ledgerblades 0 e, and springs s s, constructed and operatin g substantially as described.

2. A yielding button, constructed and operating substantially as described, in .combination with a guard finger-bar and cutter-bar, as herein set forth.

WM. G. KENYON.

Witnesses:

BENJAMIN ARNOLD, JAMES ARNOLD. 

